There are various imaging techniques used for detection of physical illnesses and abnormalities, as well as for determining the stage of an illness (e.g., how advanced a cancer is), and for precisely mapping the body to aid in directing surgery, radiographic treatments, and other treatments. Such imaging techniques include X-Ray Imaging, CT Scans, Nuclear Imaging (PET and SPECT), Ultrasound, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Digital Mammography, Virtual Colonoscopy, Sentinel Node Mapping for Breast Cancer Staging, Image-Guided Brain Surgery, and others. The various techniques all require some degree of patient positioning, though the positioning for the various techniques may be quite different. Moreover, some techniques require frequent patient repositioning with a very high degree of accuracy.
For example, during the present inventor's recent study of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) of breast cancer, patients equipped with breast immobilizing devices and other imaging electronics had to be transferred from an upright position to a prone position very precisely before initiating the imaging and radiation treatments, and then back from prone to upright immediately afterwards.
It can be a challenging task for healthcare staff to change a patient's position from one orientation to another, such as from upright to prone and vice versa. There are a number of prior art efforts to improve patient transposition and positioning for medical procedures.
For example, Harwood et al (WO 97142876) proposed a multiple joint patient table to alter patient's spatial orientation. Redington, at al (U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,836) and Wilent (U.S. Pat. No. 1,925,425) both suggest patient positioning tables rotatable over a single pivot to achieve different orientations. Naslund (U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,424 and W02041020819) invented a patient table-tilting device using a belt transporting mechanism. Also, Saracen at al (W0120051099578) used a robotic structure for patient positioning. Although each of these prior art attempts resolved certain specific issues, there is still a need for a simpler and more versatile and precisely controllable patient loading/positioning device or method for use across a variety of different imaging and/or therapeutic procedures.
The prior art efforts do not provide a trajectory-adjustable method or device for patient positioning procedure, nor a combination of translation and rotation needed for certain applications, such as to transfer a patient from an upright standing position to a forwarding prone lying position and vice versa. Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a solution for these much needed features.